Rebels hold off Leafs to steal 4-3 road victory
By The Nelson Daily Sports
The Nelson Leafs season continues to spiral in the wrong direction.
Rival Castlegar scored three times in the first period — twice on the power play — en route to a 4-3 victory over the Leafs in Kootenay International Junior Hockey League action Wednesday at the NDCC Arena.
The loss is the fifth straight — seven in the past nine games — for the Green and White, dropping the Leafs into fourth spot in the Murdoch Division.
Castlegar has won three consecutive games to stay within two points of division-leading Beaver Valley Nitehawks in the Murdoch race.
Chris Breese, Tayden Woods and Chance Szott scored less than 13 minutes into the game to give the visitors the commanding lead they would not relinquish.
Ironically, Nelson out shot Castlegar 14-10 in the first period.
The Leafs rebounded for a better second period, out scoring the Rebels 3-1 on goals by Matthew Sokol — his second in two games — Tyler Garcia on the power play and Nick Novin.
Novin, Nelson’s game star, finished the game with two points.
However, in the third, it was Castlegar that controlled much of the territorial play out shooting the Leafs 18-10 to grab the road victory.
Garrett Patterson completed the goal scoring for the Rebels.
Castlegar netminder Joseph Mcleod out dueled Patrick Ostermann in the Leaf nets to register the victory.
Castlegar out shot the Leafs 38-35 in the game.
Nelson 1-6 in November concludes the month on the road with a swing through the East Kootenay.
The Leafs face the Rockets in Golden Friday before concluding the swing in Invermere Saturday against the Rockies.
LEAF NOTES: Newcomer Kotlen Nelson did not register a point in his first game with the Leafs after arriving Monday from Columbia Valley. . . . Nelson was missing assistant captain Jordan Davie, suspended for receiving a game misconduct in the final minutes of Friday’s overtime loss against Beaver Valley. . . . Leaf defenceman Brendan Smith was back in the lineup after the past month on the injury list. Despite being out of the lineup, Smith remains tied with Eamonn Miller for top spot in Leafs scoring, each with 13 points. . . . Next home game for Nelson is Saturday December 5 against Columbia Valley Rockies.
